In 1980, I had the pleasure of seeing Peter Allen perform live in his show, “Up In One” in Los Angeles. If you are not familiar with the term, “Up In One” refers to the star being forward in a single spotlight. That was where Allen always wanted to be and where he seemed most at home. It was an interesting evening given that a large percentage of the attendees were truly celebrating being Gay and taking the rest of us along for the ride. With Allen up on stage and that group of admirers, break out your maracas because flamboyant was an understatement. He kept perfect control of an unusually wild and appreciative audience, and throughout the show, my date kept leaning over and saying, “He wrote that?” …. “He wrote that?” … “He wrote that?”
As hard as it is for me to believe, many people at the time simply didn’t know the name of the creator of the music even though many of the songs had become huge hits sung by virtually every major vocalist of the late ’70s simply because his career was so New York and International rather than on radio and TV. Thanks to the musical, The Boy From Oz, Allen may actually be better known now than when he was alive. He was an amazing showman and we lost this huge talent to AIDS way too young, but fortunately we still have the music.
There are many, many more great songs, but leave it to Peter to write a song that makes everyone homesick for a place they have never been. Of Course, Qantas had to use it to take your there.
Then there is a song to bring tears to anyone who has had to say goodbye too soon from the musical that was a tribute to his life: The Boy From Oz
One response to “Up In One”
Thanks.